Okay, so I might have told a little lie there… There’s a Doughnut Day in America not in the UK. BUT, it is Doughnut Day somewhere in the world, which means we are allowed to celebrate this glorious day by stuffing our faces with doughnuts. No judgments.

Now we’ve cleared that up, I shall wipe the sprinkles off my chin and begin to delve into the history of this brilliant, yummy, sugar-filled day. Doughnuts at the ready?

When and why did Doughnut Day begin?

Back when the World War 1 was happening in 1917, the Salvation Army used to travel out to the war trenches to offer soldiers food and drink. As you can imagine, at that time and during the war there wasn’t much food on offer, let alone food that was suitable for feeding the masses. So, what did they have at hand that was cheap, easy to cook and wouldn’t go off? Flour, Lard, Sugar (if they were lucky), baking powder and cinnamon.

It was then that they began to fry up doughnuts under shellfire and with little-to-no cooking supplies. The Salvation Army (which were mostly women) soon earned the name ‘doughnut lassies’.

They brought joy and comfort to the soldiers in a time of horror and distress. In 1938 the Salvation Army named the first Friday of June Doughnut Day. Fast forward to 2018 and America still celebrates the ‘Doughnut lassies’ by continuing the tradition.